Synopsis
The journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears.
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Cast
- Diego LunaManolo (voice)
- Channing TatumJoaquin (voice)
- Zoe SaldañaMaria (voice)
- Christina ApplegateMary Beth (voice)
- Eugenio DerbezChato (voice)
- Cheech MarinPancho Rodriguez (voice)
- Gabriel IglesiasPepe Rodriguez (voice)
- Ron PerlmanXibalba (voice)
- Kate del CastilloLa Muerte (voice)
- Ana de la RegueraCarmen Sánchez (voice)
Recommendations
- 91
Entertainment Weekly
Overflowing with hyperactive charm and a spectacular sea of colors, it showcases some of the most breathtaking animation we've seen this decade. - 88
TheWrap
The Book of Life manages to be genuinely surprising and engrossing. - 88
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
A Mexican-accented kids’ cartoon so colorful and unconventionally dazzling it almost reinvents the art form. As pretty as a just-punctured pinata, endlessly inventive, warm and traditional, it serves up Mexican culture in a riot of Mexican colors and mariachi-flavored music. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
The Book of Life is a visually stunning effort that makes up for its formulaic storyline with an enchanting atmosphere that sweeps you into its fantastical world, or in this case, three worlds. - 70
Variety
The Book of Life is undoubtedly stuffed with more business than its fleet, kid-friendly running time can properly handle. Yet Gutierrez’s confident delivery of the material remains so buoyant and passionately felt throughout that he almost gets away with it. - 67
The A.V. Club
The characters move around in a thoroughly realized universe full of imaginative and beautifully rendered detail. Too bad the rest of it isn’t more interesting. - 50
Slant Magazine
Jorge R. Gutierrez subsumes the film's darker themes in a relentlessly busy farrago of predictable kids'-movie tropes and annoying attempts at hipness. - 50
New York Post
Just in time for Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday comes this gloriously colorful animated musical, which almost (but not quite) makes up in visuals what it lacks in snappy dialogue.
